Strong support for more income tax to fund better care
11 September 2007 | Stephen Burke, Chief Executive, Counsel and CareThree-quarters of the public are prepared to pay 1p extra on income tax in order to fund better and fairer care for older people, according to a YouGov survey published last week. An additional 1p in the pound on income tax would raise £2 billion, which would pay for 80 per cent of all care home fees and for domiciliary care, according to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
When asked ‘would you be prepared to pay 1p extra on your income tax to fund better and fairer care for older people?’, 75 per cent of those surveyed said that they would. The 55+ age group showed the greatest support at 82 per cent, and the 45–54 age group – often known as the ‘sandwich generation’ who care for both children and ageing relatives – were the next highest at 77 per cent.
Two-thirds of people think that the cost of care for older people should be government funded, with a quarter saying it should be means tested. Those in the 18-24 and 25-34 old age groups are more in favour of means testing.
The survey, commissioned by Counsel and Care and Lawpack Publishing Ltd, reveals that 42 per cent think that care and support services for older people are worse compared with five years ago, with only 13 per cent thinking they are improving. Among the 55+ age group, 54 per cent say that services are worsening. This confirms Counsel and Care’s recent survey of local authorities which highlighted the widening care gap as councils restrict the number of older people eligible for care services.
The survey also found that a quarter of 45-54 year olds do not know where to find advice and information on care for older people – even though this age group is most likely to be helping ageing parents with care.
These findings support our view that urgent action needs to be taken on the funding of long-term care, and that the public is willing to participate. Clearly the public want better care for our ageing population. It is critical that we win support across all ages and generations if we are to end the underfunding of care and support for older people.
If we can develop a co-payment option that is a true partnership between the state, the family and the individual, we can move towards a fairer system of paying for care in the future. That is the challenge for the government in its spending review this autumn and beyond.
September 11th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Gordon Brown inherited a ticking time bomb regarding social care and all the services relating to it.Daily we read reports where eligibility criteria being tightened so that cash strapped councils can try balance their books.Those most vulnerable being put at risk.
Home care services are being drastically reduced.
We have day centres closing each day and even those remaining open are increasing charges in some areas that means most people especially the elderly cannot afford to access them any longer.
How many more All Party groups/commissions/consultations do we need when the government already has the facts and figures to hand.
We have the elderly who are carers too that are penalised due to overlapping rules about benefits.Just because they reach retirement age does not mean that their caring role stops but their finances change and many struggle on a daily basis.
As more and more elderly are discharged from hospitals in to the care of their families,but in many cases no support system in place or accessible unless classed as critical needs,how much longer can family carers continue to cope unless this Government addresses these issues urgently.
Time is running out for many,who is going to pick up the pieces??????
September 11th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
What good news! Will someone please tell Gordon Brown?
I am puzzled by the assertion that it is the 45 – 54 age group that are most likely to be providing care for older people. In my experience, it is spouses – most often people who are themselves in their 70s, 80s and more – who do the lion’s share, and then sons and daughters who are quite likely themselves be over 55 (sometimes well over). After all if you are 50, your parents are only likely to 75 or so and may well in many cases (though not all of course)be in perfectly good health.
I wonder if it is just that those in the 45 – 54 age group are the most likely to identify themselves as ‘carers’. Can anyone clarify this point? What research came up with this assertion, and did it check on the older age groups?
Tessa
September 11th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Far from feeling reassured by Gordons Browns plan of arranging (yet) another investigation into Carers circumstances. Many Carers will see it as just another well paid Quango, yet another delaying tactic.
The government have “commissioned” many an fact finding group.
When the group which ever title they are working under deliver their results, make their recommendations, the government entirely ignore most of them and halfheartedly
(with some adaptions) adopt some.
The government is aleady being supplied information by the Carers Charities. They have at present The All Party Carers Group.
The question has to be asked what has the APCG being doing for the past few months for there to be a need of another commissioned report? Have they not been hot on the trail of this elusive information?
It’s not difficult to know what is needed Carers have hardly been behaving like coy victorian virgins on their wedding night about imparting the information.
Carers have been emailing and writing to various Government Ministers and the Prime Minsters, past and present for decades.
Carers have set up their own petitions on the E Petition government site. They have posted comments on the Theyworkforyou (notthatyouwouldeverguessit) website.
There has been newspaper and magazine articles, TV and Radio programmes and there are a mass of Carer Forums on the internet. What possible justification can there be for Factfinding Commision? It can only be yet another ploy to delay delivering the solutions.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Here we go again, new PM, new initiatives, groups, whatever they want to call them – end result, nothing changes – why, because they never actually speak to the people at the sharp end of caring.
I’m just entering my 21st year of caring and ever year the services and all round attitude to our older generation and their carers has got worse.
We’re talking about a generation who went through wars, suffered rationing, losses of their homes and loved ones and now when they need help they’re just pushed to the back of the queue – the Government wants people to live in their own homes rather than residential care, they want patients out of hospital and treated at home yet the resources aren’t there – instead they throw silly money away on giving pregnant mothers money to eat healthy foods, how are pensioners and their carers supposed to do the same on the pittance the Government gives them in ’so called’ benefit, a benefit which is snatched away at when the carer gets to retirement age because of some antiquated overlapping rule.
Recently Mum had a thankfully brief spell in hospital and I was appalled at the treatment by the staff, patients were ignored, Mum’s medication was missed, staff couldn’t care less – it was down to visitors to help patients feed (even though I was assured my blind Mum would be helped if I hadn’t insisted on going in at mealtimes she wouldn’t have eaten anything), my sister even ended up helping another lady who couldn’t manage because the staff were too busy or couldn’t be bothered to help – these people are paid to ‘care’ for patients but yet again I had to step in because quite frankly I didn’t trust my Mum in their care.
Until the general attitude to the elderly in society changes then the standard of care and the value placed on carers will never change.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
It’s high time someone called the Prime Minister to account for his failure to act (as Chancellor) on the recommendations of the Royal Commission Report, ‘With Respect to Old Age – Long Term Care – Rights and Responsibilities’, 1999. (Otherwise known as ‘the Sutherland Report’ commissioned by Tony Blair.)
The Report studied the various options for funding care in detail and the main recommendation stated,
‘The costs of long-term care should be split between living costs, housing costs and personal care. Personal care should be available after assessment, ACCORDING TO NEED AND PAID FOR FROM GENERAL TAXATION: the rest should be subject to co-payment according to means’.
On the question of affordability the Report says,
‘The need for proper limitation of public spending is a reality which we readily acknowledge….. We consider that our main recommendations, estimating additional costs of up to £1.1 billion, is affordable.’
The recommendations were never implemented, except in Scotland where free care is subsidised, in effect, by the English taxpayer.
Because the government ignored these recommendations, the Royal Commissioners published a further damning statement in 2003. It concludes,
‘In recent years many additional £ billions have been allocated to the public services and to the NHS in particular, according to some without much visible improvement. …… It cannot make sense that this sum (ie £1.1 billion) is not affordable. It patently is. … There are no overwhelming impediments to the implications of the Royal Commission’s recommendations.’
The Statement goes on to re-iterate that funding was not a problem then and was not envisaged to be a problem in the future.
Both the Report and the Statement are are available to view on the Internet. They deal with various questions about care and carers which should concern every member of society. (Easiest to try googling for them but post here if you can’t find them.)
So, every carer and every elderly or disabled person should be asking Gordon Brown – why have you deliberately ignored this report for eight years and what are you going to do about it now?
September 11th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I am really pleased to hear there is support for increased income tax… and state funded care for older people.I was slightly despondent at the findings from the Careing Choices sessions and questionnaires that there was still a majority that felt that some kind of individual contributions were a way foward. Just think what 2p in the pound could do .
Jacqui
September 11th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
More words and no actions (from Carers as well as politicians, thinking places like no 10’s e-petition site is going to change things is naive beyond belief, same goes for Compass, same goes for writing letters, we have all seen the pathetic responses to those and ONE letter in particular ain’t that right Cheryl?)
You want to know who should bear part of the blame? The media should stand up and admit they haven’t done a thing to help Carers, even worse when they do run the occasional article it’s the stereo-typical ‘poor unsung angel, salt of the earth’ type of Carer, that’s become insulting and patronising to every Carer I know.
You’ll hear all sorts of things like “Carers should be united” or “the charities are doing their best to change things” and it’s absolute rubbish, Carers need to realise the best way to get change is to utilise the internet and send a message to politicians where the public can see it, that’s not on sparsely populated closed/private forums, not on Carers UK’s message board (government lapdogs) Carers need to use their brains and at present that ain’t happenin’ because some think they know best by taking a ‘reasonable’ approach, the past 40 years have taught these ‘reasonable’ people NOTHING.
You want more of the same then carry on down the same path, you want change then you need to swallow your pride
September 12th, 2007 at 9:34 am
An article printed in good faith and several carers making genuine comments and yet it gets turned it in to a ‘them and us’ scenario again.
Whether ANY attempt by carers brings forth a ‘pathetic response’in some peoples eyes,it is noones business but their own and each attempt, no matter what it is, is worthy of support for the simple reason that an individual/group is trying.
We have several online forums and each one provides something different for each of its members.It is all about personal choice.Some carers have neither the time or the energy to try change things but I would never be as insulting in saying they ‘were not using their brains’.
Till my mams death last year I never classed myself as a carer even though she was 24/7 the last few yrs of her life.I was a daughter first and always.It was only when she died, when I had the time to search the internet,to read up on things that I realised what was happening ‘out there’.Realised just how the situation for carers was at breaking point for many but for so many different reasons,be it lack of services or financial.
For me CarersUK,http://www.carersuk.org/Forums/index.php, was a godsend.Not just the online forum but the organisation itself.I still care for my 40 yr old disabled brother and after mams death, complications arose.CUK’s helpline were able to help and advise and through them I received proper legal advice.
Saying carers suffer from pride is so far from the truth its unbelievable.Most carers that I know both for real and online are the most selfless group of people I know.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Like Rosemary (one of the good friends I’ve made through Carers UK!) I never thought I was a carer until I had to leave work nearly 6 years ago, the previous 15 I’d just been ‘looking after my Mum’, repaying the care she gave me as a child.
Not only are carers undervalued but they are also isolated. The ‘online caring community’ is a lifeline to the outside world and organisations like Carers UK and National Carers Forum (http://tonyrhodes.f.xaviermedia.com/)provide that practical and emotional support we all need from time to time however long we’ve been caring.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
First you have Carers UK supports that have undying faith that this charity (who abuse their web resources to try to drive UK Carers off-line by staying logged on for up to 24 hours at a time none stop, evidence can be provided) will better things for Carers, they haven’t till now so it’s futile hoping they will ‘get their act together’
The next we have private clubs type of support groups which DON’T help Carers because the general public have NO IDEA what goes on in them and WON’T join merely to ’see’, out of sigh tout of mind should be the motto’s there.
Lets be realistic here, up to now NOT ONE charity (both main Carer charities work hand-in-hand to block Carers having access to government consultation bodies don’t forget) has tackled the one single most requested topic, the disgraceful level of Carers Allowance, they phaff around the edges so YES, it IS an ‘us and them’ battle and if Carers UK’s followers want to say I’m wrong in my attitude then I really don’t care BUT one thing I would NEVER do is to post on the internet that one of their followers had a police record, that merely destroys ANY credibility of the charity they follow, which is what a certain Carers UK member has been doing.
So if ANY organisation wants to know what is what they need to contact US and that is the reality of the matter, we have proved Carers are more than able to speak for themselves
October 13th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
The present state of caring for our elderly is probably at an all time low both in informal care at home and in residential care. Informal unpaid carers are on their knees trying to cope and the clients within the care system are being bled dry for something they have already paid for. Something has to be done to resolve the funding issue.
In my opinion those above 50 years old now, should be fully funded for all care that is related and part of their condition i.e. Alzeimers / Dementia including what is called social care. Someone in mid/end stage Dementia is usually totally unable to look after their personal/ social needs, which is why they rely on relatives and residential / nursing homes.
People between 35 & 40 years old should start to pay into a care fund which would pay a % of their care cost.
Everyone else should as a compulsary statute, pay into a care fund which, though some may never need it (lucky them) would hopefully provide for all their care.
In theory Peoples homes (which they have spent years paying for), should then never have to be sold to provide for care and hopefully by then care at home will be the norm, not the exception.